'Love Bites' Halted, 'Apprentice' Takes Over

July 2, 2010 (6:49 am) GMT

Instead of debuting this Fall, 'Love Bites' will have to wait until late this year to know its fate while the reality show airs its seventh non-celebrity edition.

NBC has to make a last minute decision to bump "Love Bites" to midseason and bring in "The Apprentice" as a replacement. For one thing, Becki Newton who is the main star of "Love Bites" is pregnant with her first child, and it could be a trouble for the production because Newton's character is supposed to be a virgin.

The non-celebrity edition of "The Apprentice" has been prepared to take over the Thursday 10/9c slot this Fall and run until mid-December. It is expected that "Bites" will begin premiering in January in its original Thursday timeslot. Or if any case there's an NBC freshman which gets canned during the Fall season, then "Bites" is expected to jump in.

It looks like "Bites" is already in for a series of bad luck. It has lost lead cast Jordana Spiro earlier last month and its creator Cindy Chupack is giving up her job as the showrunner. "Launching an anthology series, which breaks the form in so many ways, is a huge undertaking, and I strongly feel that I can be most helpful not showrunning, but writing," Chupack said.

In the meantime, "Apprentice" comes all prepared. Donald Trump would find his apprentice in 16 people who have lost their jobs because of the economic crisis. The celebrity edition meanwhile will debut next Spring.